Former Danbury man pleads guilty in killing of wife

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, February 11, 2008

Russell Perillo
, 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in Litchfield Superior Court on Monday in connection with the death of 35-year-old
Wendy Jackson-Perillo
, who was found dead in her East Street apartment in June.

Perillo entered his plea under the Alford Doctrine, meaning he contested some of the facts outlined by State's Attorney
David Shepack
, but acknowledged the probability that he would be convicted by a jury of the case went to trial.

The victim died of blunt force trauma to the abdomen, according to the medical examiner. Perillo was living in Bethel at the time of his wife's death.

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Perillo, who had a record of arrests on narcotics trafficking and weapons charges, told several versions of events to police who investigated his wife's death. Initially, he claimed that she had tripped during a drunken argument and fallen against the arm of a couch.

But the injuries she sustained were too severe to have resulted from such a fall, investigators said.

Eventually, he admitted that he had punched his wife, then left the apartment and driven to his mother's house. Jackson-Perillo's body was found when by a friend two days later.

Perillo appeared before Judge
Michael Sheldon
under heavy guard. During a previous court appearance in November, he'd briefly escaped from custody before being found about a mile from the courthouse two hours later.

Perillo will also be sentenced on the escape charge when he comes back to court on May. 1.